A Single Change
by Tora19Kage
Summary: It has been said that the fluttering of a butterfly's wings could cause a tornado on the other side of a planet. That a single change could rewrite a person's entire life.
1. Chapter 1

_**It has been said that the fluttering of a butterfly's wings could cause a tornado on the other side of a planet. That a single change could rewrite a person's entire life.**_

The brunette gasped in pain, her body contracting heavily in response.

"You must push," the medi-droid tonelessly urged her.

She tried to push through the haze of agony her body was in, before gasping, "I…can't," she shuddered violently, "Where is he? Ani! An-" her pleadings for her husband were interrupted by another contraction.

A ginger-haired man watched, torn between worry and mind-numbing sadness at his failure. Why? Why hadn't he seen the signs? Why hadn't he tried to be a better mentor? Act as a true father-figure to him, as his own teacher had, like that man who had eventually turned his student to the Dark Side?

Obi-Wan Kenobi's dark musings were interrupted when the woman gave an agonized scream, far louder than any of her previous cries, hands clutching at the edge of her table. As her spasms eased, a second cry pierced through the fog that clouded Obi-Wan's mind. He moved over to the medi-droid, who passed him a small form wrapped in a white towel.

As he shifted to where the head of the newborn's mother lay, the baby suddenly halted its crying and opened its eyes. The bright blue irises, startling with their intensity, stunned Obi-Wan. He had only seen that exact colour once before. The eyes of the child were carbon copies of its father's. Eyes that Obi-Wan had not seen since before he'd left for his final confrontation with General Grevious. Shaking himself mentally before he could lapse into memories of burning, sickly yellow eyes, he placed the baby next to Padme's head.

_**A single change.**_

"It's a girl," Obi-Wan told her, begging the Force to let the inheritor of Anakin's eyes grow up with at least one of her parents.

"Leia," Padme gasped, her face breaking into a pain-ridden, but sincere, smile, "Oh, my sweet Leia…" She reached out to touch her daughter's face, only managing a brief second before another contraction wracked her body.

A few seconds later, the cry of another infant filled the room. Obi-Wan took the child from the droid and laid it next to its sister and mother.

"It's a boy," he was having trouble forming the words, he could see Padme fading away before his eyes.

"Luke...oh Luke," she whispered. Luke's wails quieted down almost immediately, his eyes stretched as wide as they could go at the women smiling tiredly at him. In any other situation, it would've been comical, but there wasn't a single person in the birthing or observing room who was capable of bringing themselves to even think about smiling.

Padme moved her fingers to her babies' hands, their tiny fingers wrapping around one of her instinctively as they cooed at her, "They're beautiful...Ani would be so proud…" her voice was growing fainter with ever word.

"Obi-Wan…" she turned her head weakly towards the Jedi master, "There's good in him...I know...I know there's still…" Padme Skywalker's voice faded off as she passed away.

Her twins, Leia and Luke, immediately started crying, harder and more distraught than their previous howls. Obi-Wan fought off the impending numbness, and picked up the twins. Leia calmed down a little, no longer wailing, although tears still streamed down her face. Luke just cried more, his cries becoming more and more heart-rending.

Obi-Wan left the birthing room, his steps heavy. He met Bail Organa and Yoda in the observation room, both looking older and more worn down than when he last saw them. Yoda took one look at the babies, sighed heavily, and beckoned for Obi-Wan to follow him to the conference room on Bail's ship. Bail did his best to fight off the sadness welling within him, and offered to take one of the twins. Obi-Wan passed Luke to him, whose wails were quieting down to whimpers.

After giving the babies to a waiting nurse, the Jedi and the senator followed Yoda, both silent and lost in their mourning. Upon reaching the white room, Obi-Wan and Bail sat in the chairs by the wizened Master. They didn't speak, too overwhelmed by the tragedy that had taken place.

Eventually, Yoda, hunched over and seeming older than ever, spoke, "Hidden, safe, the children must be kept. If learn of them the Emperor does, take them he will. In the Force, strong they will be. Split up, they must be. Together, too noticeable."

_**Can rewrite the destiny of an entire galaxy.**_

Obi-Wan spoke up, his voice rough with grief, "I will take the girl to Tatooine. She has family there. I will watch over her."

Yoda considered the younger Jedi, who stared back at him, unyielding.

"Train her, you will?" he eventually asked.

Obi-Wan gave a stiff nod, his features displaying the stubborn countenance developed over years of exposure to his former Padawan.

The green Jedi looked at the ginger haired one, and wearily nodded, "For the best, this may be."

Bail spoke up, breaking the short silence that followed Yoda's agreement, "I will take the boy and raise him as my own. My wife and I have longed for a child for many years. He will be safe with us."

The two Masters nodded their agreement.

"Into exile I will go," Yoda declared, looking down at the table, "In hiding I will stay, until lifted the darkness has."

"Master Yoda," the blue clad senator began hesitantly, "with all due respect, do you honestly think that the Emperor can be beaten?"

Yoda _hmm_ed, and then stated, with absolute certainty, "Have faith we must. If lose faith you do, lose the war you will. Take care of the children, and fall, one day the Emperor will."

Bail and Obi-Wan stood and bowed to Yoda, and began to make their way out of the room. But before Obi-Wan could exit, Yoda called him back.

"Is there something more, Master?"

"Come closer, Obi-Wan. Have more to teach you, I do."

Obi-Wan Kenobi gazed over the desolate desert, the small homestead outlined against the sunset. A woman, Beru Lars, was waiting for him at the doorway.

He walked up to her, holding his precious bundle in his cloak. Passing Leia to her aunt, he bowed deeply.

Before Beru could turn away, the man stopped her, "Could I see her? It doesn't have to be often." _She's all I have left of him._

The woman studied him, passionate eyes trying to reach into his soul. Appearing to hear his unspoken words, she nodded, a kind smile gracing her face.

Obi-Wan bowed again, grateful beyond words. He turned away, heading back to the eopie. Getting on, he turned the creature to the Jundland Wastes, where he would stay during his exile.

As the eopie walked the Jedi to his exile, Obi-Wan turned back to see Beru handing her husband his niece. A small grin flitted across his features and he looked towards the sunset.

_Rest well Leia. I will not fail you like I did your father._

**AN**_  
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**Sooo the idea for this story came from something quite ridiculous actually. I was sitting through a really boring music theory lesson. I, somehow, started thinking about gender-benders and such, when I thought of something so stupid it was kind of mind blowing. If Luke and Leia switched genders, they would still be Luke and Leia. (As in fem!Luke would be Leia and male!Leia would be Luke). And I just kept thinking about it until I wrote this story.**

**Just to clarify though, the Leia in this story is the Luke in canon!verse. The gender was just switched.**

**Please leave a review! This is my first story so I don't have a clue how I did ^_^ (although I apologize about the Yoda-ObiWan-Bail bit, I just couldn't write it in a way that would work for me :/ )**


	2. Chapter 2 - Space Battle

**Let's be honest here: I do not, and will likely never own Star Wars.  
>Thank you very much for the reviews and follows! ^_^<strong>

Leia Skywalker, 20 years old, was doing her best to not attack the vaporator she was trying‒and failing‒to fix the recalcitrant valve adjuster on the stubbornly temperamental machine. Swearing softly as she resorted to hitting it continuously, the slight blonde sent up a prayer to the Force to give her strength.

The young woman's short blonde hair gleamed in the light of the twin suns that shone in the sky of the dustball she was very reluctant to call home. Her startlingly blue eyes were narrowed as her thin but deceptively strong arm attempted to beat the apparatus into submission.

Giving the metal contraption one final whack, Leia gave up on solving the problem the mundane way. Pushing her short hair out of her eyes, she checked to make sure no one was in the vicinity. After reaffirming that she was the only one out there (not that there was really any doubt), the female put her hand on the valve adjuster and closed her eyes.

Calling to the Force the way her adoptive uncle had taught her, she focused on the troublesome and stupid machine. A few moments later, the youth opened her eyes, pleased to have succeeded in her task. Leia sat back on her heels for a few seconds, content to just enjoy the moment. Shielding her eyes from the blindingly bright suns, the young Skywalker looked up at the pale blue expanse above her, caught up in thoughts of leaving the dustball behind.

A green flash in the otherwise blue sky caught the girl's attention, and she drew her painstakingly clean set of macrobinoculars and focused in on the multi-coloured blasts scattering in the sky. As Leia watched the bright bursts, she quickly forgot about any thoughts of chores and vaporators, and, after reattaching her binoculars to her belt, the blonde practically leapt into her speeder. Working as fast as possible, the young woman got the old engine running, and took off.

The man breathed in and out, centering himself in the Force. Focusing outwards, Obi-Wan Kenobi listened to the murmurings of the energy around him. Something was going to happen soon, the Force was telling him, something revolving around…

Feeling a familiar Force signature, he opened his blue-gray eyes and rose from his kneeling position on the sandy floor. Stretching slightly to restore feeling to his limbs, the Jedi Master walked to the door, and upon opening it, saw his precious niece pull up in her rusty vehicle much like her father would ‒ recklessly.

Sighing fondly at the sheer concentration of Anakin's genes in his daughter, the wizened man exited his humble home to greet the female incarnation (with a few of her mother's traits) of his former Padawan as she jumped out, almost taking flight in her excitement.

The years had not been too kind to the old Jedi. Guilt and sadness had caused him to age at a faster rate than the average human. Hair that was once completely ginger had but a few streaks of its former colour in it, and there were enough wrinkles on his face to ‒ as he would jokingly put it ‒ rival those of Master Yoda's. However, his eyes, almost out of place with the rest of him, still shone with a spark in them.

"Hello little Leia," Obi-Wan stated fondly, "What brings you here?"

Leia's cheeks puffed out a little bit, "I'm not little," she muttered petulantly, and Obi-Wan was once again beset with memories of his former Padawan at fourteen years old.

He walked up to the short female and ruffled her short hair, chuckling softly at the pout she gave him, "When you get to my age, anybody younger than you is little, and everybody older is ancient."

Leia grumbled a bit, frequently repeating 'not little anymore' and 'twenty years old' before getting back to her original train of thought, and almost immediately started jumping up and down with childish excitement, completely contradicting her previous statements, "Uncle Ben! There's a space battle happening above us!"

Obi-Wan raised his eyebrow, and decided to play dumb, having sensed the dark presence and lost lives earlier, for Leia's sake, "Is that so, little Leia?"

Ignoring the nickname, the short female enthusiastically nodded her head as she stretched out her hand with the macrobinoculars in it,

"Yeah! Do you think it could be the Rebellion and the Empire?"

The Jedi took them and raised them to his eyes, never mind the fact that he didn't actually need them, and gazed upwards at where Leia was pointing. After a few moments, he returned the binoculars to Leia and stated, "It looks as if your space battle is over."

"What!?" the energetic blonde grabbed at the pair of binoculars and stared up at the spot where she was sure there had been blasts of a battle. Sure enough, the sky was clear of anything but the colour blue. Her mouth dropped open a little bit, "But I swear I saw…"

Obi-Wan decided to take the discussion indoors, before the twin suns blinded the girl staring upwards in disbelief. He all but pulled the dumbstruck blonde through the door and sat her down.

Thinking that her beloved uncle didn't believe her, the niece started stammering, "But...I know it was there‒!"

The old man took pity on her and interrupted her before she started monologuing about how she saw it, "I know you did, Leia."

The rambling girl stopped mid-sentence, "You do?"

"Through the Force, you can feel many things. The past, the present, the future, far away and close by," He leaned over to the young woman and poked her forehead, "Did you forget that already?"

Leia scrunched up her face, and upon processing his words, narrowed her eyes and thought it out. Eventually she muttered to herself, "Forgot about that..." her thoughts immediately snagged on another part of his statement, "Wait...you're going to teach me that next right?"

Obi-Wan smiled at her immediate excitement and nodded. But before she could started leaping off of the walls, added, "However, you should probably be getting back to the Lars homestead. I foresee your uncle will be quite a sight to see if you stay here any longer."

Leia giggled as she stood up. As she was starting up her speeder, the blonde paused and asked Obi-Wan a question, "Uncle Ben, do you think it was the Empire and the Rebellion?"

The Jedi Master contemplated her question before answering, "Oh yes. It most definitely was."

Pulling up to the small homestead, the small female got out of the old vehicle with considerably less vigour than she had previously at her adoptive uncle's home. Moving quietly, Leia prayed that nobody had noticed that he had gotten back later than she technically should've.

"Hello, Leia."

Busted.

"Hi, Aunt Beru," Leia replied, turning slowly as she waited for the chewing out about being late.

The older woman was standing behind her, eyebrow raised and arms crossed. A small smile, however, reduced the intimidation factor of the aunt's stance, "You were spending time with your other uncle again, weren't you?" Beru asked, although it was clearly a rhetorical question.

When the short woman could offer no reply, her aunt just shook her head and beckoned the blonde, "Come on, the Jawa's are going to be here at any moment."

As Leia followed Beru, she once again felt the insistent desire to leave her home planet. She loved her Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen. They had taken her in, provided for her, protected her (quite insistently and strongly in Owen's case) and loved her. But the female Skywalker couldn't help but feel that she was meant for something more than living her life on the sand-ridden and hopeless planet she had grown up on.

"Leia!" It was her uncle. The Jawas must have arrived.

As Leia darted up the stairs of the Lars homestead and out to where her uncle was standing by the massive Jawa transport, she got the feeling that maybe she wouldn't have to wait long for her life to change.

**AN: Ok, I owe you guys such a massive apology. Like, Death Star Mrk. 2 massive. I AM SO SORRY! I had planned for this to be out _weeks_ ago, but sadly, literally _right_ after I published the prologue, my laptop broke down. And we weren't able to get up and running until two weeks ago. And then there were exams, and I got the Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix for Christmas. I spent over 60 hours on it just over the first 3 weeks of me owning it. And then, after I got my laptop fixed, this chapter _would not_ be written! Seriously! I honestly feel this chapter is terrible. So I owe you guys an even greater apology for that. I _promise_ the next ones will be better (at least after I get to the part with the burning homestead). I'm going to be away for a while starting March 3rd, so I'm going to do my best to churn out at least two more chapters before then.**

**So a little bit of explaining: Obi-Wan got to see Leia at least once every two months during her childhood, and when she started getting older, the visits (courtesy of Owen Lars) got spaced farther and farther apart. Eventually, after Leia started going out on her own (18-ish? maybe older, can't forget, Owen lost his stepmother to Sand People, so he would be especially cautious with Leia), Leia started going to visit Obi-Wan. Then Obi-Wan started teaching Leia how to use the Force. He couldn't do much because while Leia may have been able to see him more than before, she still couldn't stay long. Which is why she didn't know how to stretch her senses that far. She knew to trust her feelings, manipulate things, lift them, and sense things within a few kilometres, but she hasn't been able to tap into her full potential.**

**I didn't include Biggs in this chapter because I didn't quite know how to fit it in. Let's just say he had gone back earlier and that's when he and Leia had their discussion about joining the Rebellion.**

**By the way, how would you classify things as from Alderaan? I couldn't remember, and that was a big part of why I didn't do the C-3PO and such bit was because I couldn't remember if it was Alderaani or Alderaanian. Although it was also because I want to focus more on Leia and Obi-Wan for this story (as it progresses, I'm likely going to start focusing more on Leia).**

**Please drop a review and some constructive criticism! What did I do well, what do I need to work on?**

**I promise to update sooner and make the next chapters better!**


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